I have such mixed feelings on this quote from the article. Sad, Amazement, & humorous at the same time.
Chinese language learners are now attempting to learn the so-called Chinese wisdom of twisting rules and playing dirty tricks, just like Little Zhao is taught to do in "Funny Business" dialogues. My friend said he found them quite useful and practical when it came to doing business in China.
This week we are having Panda Sale week, and will be including more articles about this peaceful, Chinese animal.
Are your kids having a hard time learning Chinese? Tell them pandas are learning Chinese, so they can too!
Last Friday, 2 of the world's most famous pandas are back on Chinese soil and they will be getting Chinese classes as well.
Tai Shan, 4, and Mei Lan, 3, arrived in Chengdu, China last February 26, 2010. They have gone back home as part of the deal with the US that adult pandas are to return home when they turn 3. The pandas will go their separate ways after. Tai Shan will be go home to Bifengxia Panda Base. Mei Lan goes on to Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
Interestingly enough, both pandas will be having teachers to be taught Chinese. Tai Shan will be immersed in Mandarin while Mei Lan will be immersed in the Sichuan dialect.
I think Tai Shan will be able to appreciate Mandarin if he sees how Bao Bei panda or Little Pim is speaking it and sharing to kids Mandarin words and phrases that are useful to kids.
Bao Bei Panda (from Early Start Mandarin DVDs) clowning around
It's nice that people are using the New Practical Chinese Reader books, and their cameras to practice their own versions of the new Practical Chinese Reader storyline.
I think it is a good idea to video tape yourself if you are studying Chinese. That way you can see how you say things and how you look, and you can assess yourself what can be done to improve your Chinese-speaking skills.
Here are some user-videos made using dialogues of NPCR
School Projects:
Class practice sessions:
For those who are interested to use the New Practical Chinese Reader books, yes, these are available from ChildBook. As you may have seen in the videos, the books are designed for late teens and early 20's students.
Some Notes About Learning-Chinese Curriculum Textbooks
One of the top questions we always get from parents and teachers is about Learning Chinese curriculum textbooks.
The basic information about our curriculum textbooks is at the ChildBook Curriculum Textbooks page, but here are some other points that may help you choose the textbook most suitable for your child or students.
Chinese Made Easy and Chinese Made Easy for Kids are attractive looking and the kids like using it. Parents also like that there is a Parent/ Teacher's Guide in Traditional or Simplified Chinese.
Word of tween caution though: Our bigger kids are not exactly thrilled when they see their book entitled "Chinese Made Easy for Kids", so best use this series for the smaller kids set. For tweens and above, do use the Chinese Made Easy series.
An alternative for tweens/ junior high/ middle school kids is the Kuaile Hanyu series. Lessons are cartoon-ish and the videos and software show young teens (junior high age) on exchange student trips to Beijing.
If you think stories will be more interesting for your child, the Better Chinese books series will be appreciated: These are: My First Chinese Words for small children, My First Chinese Reader for younger elementary grades, then Discovering Chinese and Magical Tour of China for teens and adults. Better Chinese matches the stories to the level of the student. Plus there are optional stories/lessons you can avail if desired.
Practical Chinese by Wendy Lin has a simple-looking layout, but customers with Chinese-speaking parents (especially if from Taiwan) find it very useful. These are also best if you desire for your child to learn Traditional Chinese. Plus there are many levels that the child can use until grown up. Also good to note that parents also appreciate that the textbook's author, Ms. Wendy Lin, responds to questions about the lessons.
And not to be confused with the series previously mentioned, the New Practical Chinese Reader (NPCR) is a popular textbook series used by late high school and college students. The content is interesting. Chinese words, conversations, the storyline and lessons are specifically for older teens.
These are some of the usual highlights of the text books that parents and teachers like.
If you have more questions about the textbooks, please send us an email.
PS. Oh! Oh! Special mention since we're talking about textbooks, you might want to check out practice tests for Chinese proficiency examiantions.
Our Chinese SAT review books are very popular among high school students. Plus the AP Chinese Exams is on May. It's not too late to review, we have Barron's and Bih-Hsya Hsieh's practice tests.
As your kids are learning Chinese so can you! I have many families call me up and plan for everyone, including Mom and Dad to work on their Chinese. It's nice to have a Learning Environment with the whole family working together. And Learning a foreign language needs a lot of support at home to be truly successful. A good start for those familes serious about Learning Chinese is choosing a Chinese Curriculum. This ads a structured approach that is helpful for most people.
Some ideas:
1. Activities for the entire family. Go to some local Chinese New Year Celebrations.
2. Eat lunch at a Chinese Restaurant.
3. Visit a local Chinatown.
4. Reading to your kids. If you have a native Chinese speaker in the family, have them read stories to your kids in Chinese.
5. For everyone a great series that uses a story based approach is My First Chinese Words. There are related series for older kids such as My First Chinese Reader for ages 7-11 and Discovering Chinese for ages 12+. Other parents prefer different styles of Learning Chinese. Practical Chinese is a very down to earth method that I highly recommend for teaching Traditional Characters who is a native speaker/reader. Others prefer a more polished series such as Chinese Made Easy and Chinese Made Easy for kids.
6. Get some CD's with books that are Bilingual Chinese English Songs, where the song is sung and in Chinese and then English! Learning Chinese through songs is a lot of fun and a great family activity. Most of them have a book to help.
ChildBook customers (both parents and teachers) love using videos to help expose kids to native-sounding Mandarin Chinese accents. Interactive videos help kids learn Chinese words, practice reading, listening, pronunciation and even grammar skills.
Another good thing about using video as an exposure medium, whether at school or right at home, is that teachers and parents can readily access it. Videos are available, viewable and downloadable in different file formats.
Videos are nice language study tools to use, but please use the videos as a guide to help you interact with kids. When kids are a little bigger, they can express they want to watch the Chinese videos on their own, but do sit with them as much as possible when they watch. This way your child can listen and watch Chinese, while you get to spend time together as well.
Some more tips when using Chinese videos:
Choose videos wisely. Always select videos according to the students’ age, interests and level. Also consider appeal, length, and language objectives. Funny and engaging videos are easier to remember. You can also use videos that promote or introduce Chinese culture e.g., Chinese New Year, Chinese arts and crafts, etc.
Keep the video as short as possible. Choose clips that are short but sweet. Young students can easily get bored and switch off if the video is taking forever to finish.
Consider subtitled videos. Videos that come with subtitles can help in vocabulary learning. This is a great way to introduce new Chinese words and phrases to learn, especially if the video is rich in vocabulary. Ideally, teachers and parents should use videos with Chinese subtitles, or vice versa.
Provide a transcript of the video. If possible, clips or videos that have a lot of details should be accompanied by a viewing guide. If captions/subtitles are not available, it’s best to give bigger students a transcript that will serve as guide so kids can follow easily. Students can easily become frustrated when they don’t understand the main ideas.
Play and Pause. Before playing the video,it helps to give the kidsa little background of what they are about see. Play the video then watch their reactions. Feel free to pause the video intermittently especially when you need to ask students important questions or when you need to emphasize a key point.
Allot time for discussion. After watching, let kids talk about the video.Ask them questions and encourage them to ask questions too. In most cases, questions would be about unfamiliar vocabulary so listing all essential Chinese phrases and words used in the video will prove helpful.
Some Chinese Videos that are Favorites of ChildBook Customers:
Are you looking for a Chinese tutor to teach your child, or do you want to learn Chinese yourself?
Some considerations first in selecting your tutor, besides speaking Chinese fluently: - up-to-date on the best materials available - also very familiar about Chinese culture. - can create a doable plan for the student - Very encouraging, easily motivates the student. Please add if I missed any :-)
Now, where can we go to find tutors...
1. Referrals. Perhaps one of the the most convenient ways to find a good tutor is by asking friends and relative for a few recommendations. Ask them about the teaching style and if the tutor is very trustworthy. 2. Chinese Forums. Most people check out the internet when they need anything, including educational services. Simply google "Chinese forums" and once you’re taken to the site of your choice, join up. Or why not start a thread? Post exactly what you need and from what area you are. Many people interested in studying Pinyin or CSL (Chinese as Second Language) frequent these forums to offer tips, make friends, find students and tutors. Chances are they already know the people for the job. Ask them for referrals and some tips as well. However, always exercise caution when dealing online and check references. 3. Flyers. Tutors use flyers to advertise their services at places where they can meet prospective students. They usually leave their flyers in the library, grocers, and supermarkets, so keep your eyes open if there are any posted by a Chinese tutor. When you have the contact numbers, set an interview. Always remember to check the tutor's credentials, and ask for references. 4. Tutorial Centers. Visit these center and request for brochures. Feel free to ask about their Chinese language programs, their Chinese tutors, and of course, their tutorial fee. 5. Exchange tutorial. If you are pretty good in a subject area, why not find someone who can use your help, but also be able to teach you Chinese in return? You will be able to learn Chinese AND help another person out as well. You may also gain a good friend (or more than good) along the way. :-)
Those are just some of the ways to find tutors that can help you learn Mandarin Chinese. If you've done some other way to find a tutor and have had successful results, please do share it so other people may do the same thing too.
Have you ever sung to read-along cassette tapes when you were younger? I used to have several read-along stories, but we also had a multiplication tables cassette. My mom bought it for us to be able to memorize our multiplication facts faster.
Surprise! Now that I’m a parent myself, I still remember the lyrics to that multiplication song. Turns out the part of the brain that processes language, is also the part of the brain that processes music. Therefore, it is easy for us to remember words when learned together with music.
The implication for those of us raising bilingual kids, using music for our kids to learn Chinese words will help them with remembering words better. Childbook has several sing-along cassettes that have simple songs with starter words for small kids. A customer favorite is Teach Me Chinese and Let’s Sing Mandarin. For bigger kids, you can look for Chinese pop songs and ask what sounds catchy to them. It will help a lot with remembering words and understanding phrases.
Learning Chinese SOS : Help! My Child is Mixing Up English and Chinese
A friend of mine expressed concern the other day about her 5 year old child inserting Chinese words into English. Sometimes, the order of her English sentences are topsy-turvy, noticeably the proper order if she was speaking Chinese. Many parents are concerned that learning 2 languages at the same time may lead to confusion and lack of proficiency. Actually, mixing words and grammar (code mixing) is perfectly normal in the early stages of learning a language. If it says anything, it signals that the child HAS learned something. The child now knows what a certain thing is called in Chinese, or is familiar with the correct order of a sentence.
Anyway, the big picture of learning to become bilingual is that it is a long process. Kids will grow out of code mixing as they become more proficient at the 2 languages.
So I told my friend to not worry about the mix-ups. The important thing is that the child is learning. There are a lot of things that we don’t perfect immediately when we start learning a skill. Languages are the same. What is needed is continuous guidance and validation from parents, so that a child will be inspired to learn through the years.
It's very important to exercise your brain as you get older I have noticed. Just like exercise for your physical to combat our food rich environment, exercise for the brain is important.
“The brain is plastic and continues to change, not in getting bigger but allowing for greater complexity and deeper understanding,” says Kathleen Taylor, a professor at St. Mary’s College of California, who has studied ways to teach adults effectively. “As adults we may not always learn quite as fast, but we are set up for this next developmental step.”
A teacher of mine was going very strong in his 80's and 90's, Peter Drucker. Every year he would choose an area to study, as a way to keep his mind fresh. He studied Japanese art and actually taught a class in it, becoming a true Renaissance man.
I suggest that Learning Chinese is a great way to exercise your brain.
Just the packaging takes my breath away. And that is before you get to the contents which are very well done. I look forward to more products from the publisher in the near future. The authors are Chinese parents who were looking for a better approach for teaching their kids. Located in Silicon Valley, so they decided to created something better than anything else out there for learning Chinese.
Top 10 Home Efforts to Help your Kids Learn Chinese Faster
These Learning-Chinese home tips may be for your kids, or for you - if you're studying Chinese as well.
Mostly, try to incorporate these into your daily activities. These will all add up to mastering the language; whether your child is taking formal lessons in school or with a tutor, or informally at home.
Also, what is language without the social aspect? Do encourage your child to learn more about Chinese people, culture and customs as well.
We at ChildBook have combined our little methods in raising our kids to become bilingual and these came up. Write to us the little things you've been doing in your home to encourage your kids (and yourself) to learn Chinese faster.
Speaking Chinese
1) Let your child speak Chinese. Ask your child questions. If you speak Chinese, talk in straight Chinese. If you don't, you can ask what the Chinese equivalent for a certain word is.
2) If you speak Chinese, think out loud in Chinese. Some words will somehow be picked up, promise.
3) Put your cable channel on Chinese channels every so often. It could be on the news, movie features or sitcoms. Your child will somehow be able to pick up the tones even if s/he just passes by and does not watch. If you don't speak Chinese, if you find a show on the Chinese channel appropriate for your child's age, put it on every time. Maybe your child will want to watch the show.
4) Play Chinese songs CDs. Even if you don't speak Chinese, you may even be able to memorize the words as well. Play the CDs in the car as well. If you are letting your child borrow your portable mp3 player, upload some of the Chinese songs as well.
Reading Chinese
5) Have fun with read-along Books with CDs.
6) Bring out the sticky notes and marker. Write the Chinese characters or Pinyin equivalents of things about the house and post on that item. Yes, your house will be all dotted with yellows for a time, but it helps your child remember the words.
7) If you can read Chinese, have your Chinese magazines, newspapers and books lie about the house. (We've found the bathroom a very strategic place to "accidentally" leave books and magazines about. There is a high probability it will be picked up and browsed there.)
It Takes a Village
8) Teach your child how to play Chinese games. Play together. If your child has friends over, teach them the game and watch them have fun.
9) Participate with the community in Chinese festivals or events. Chinese New Year, Dragon Boat, Mid-Autumn festivals are fun and expose your child to listening and reading Chinese with other people. Once in a while there are Chinese shows, museum exhibitions, etc. that are fun to attend and "covertly educational".
10) Bring your child regularly to Chinatown when buying weekly supplies. You can also "endorse" to your favorite Chinese-speaking people in the community that your child is learning Chinese and if they can please speak to her or with you in Chinese. Plus if they can point out to your child interesting Chinese information when you do your weekly rounds would be great. Nice folks would be more than willing to accommodate your request. They will surely be excited in your endeavor to continue the tradition of speaking the language.
Plus: Let 'em have fun and dress up. Let them have their own Chinese dress or kung fu costume. It'd also be nice if they have one for regular events, and the higher-end formal Chinese clothes for formal events. So that early on, they associate their Chinese formal dress with important events, such as weddings, birthdays, funerals, etc. It gives a sense that their Chinese identity is just as important.
USA Today has an article on the Confucius Institute. I would give the article a C+.
Headline is misleading. They seem to be a very good resource for Learning Chinese.
A culture clash over Confucius InstitutesUSA Today The goal: to offer local communities opportunities to learn Chinese language and culture. And, some observers say, to soften China's image as an aggressor ...
The article makes some good points and these are very good questions to ask:
How does an American effectively and efficiently learn Chinese?
What does the learner want and need to be able to do in Chinese?
What do I want the learner to be able to do in Chinese?
How do I structure things so that the learner develops the ability to do those things?
What is the learner doing inside and outside of the classroom?
What the article is not mentioning is how much of the material available in the US not written for the American Culture. That is why so much of the Learning Chinese Curriculum I sell is published in the US.
I agree 100% that Learning Chinese by rote is a mistake. Good article about how Singapore is changing how they Teach Chinese. Learning Chinese by rote a mistake by Asia One.
The Learning Chinese Materials I choose to sell I try very hard to get away from the hole of rote Teaching by having products that are more interactive. That teach in a way that students actually learn to Speak Chinese.
I had a parent who has had their son going to Chinese school, but all he has learned is Chinese Characters, and not how to speak! She was asking between Chinese Made Easy for Kids and My First Chinese Words.
My answer:
Both systems are very good so it's hard to say which one. Better Chinese has more accessories.
If your son is into computer games, I like the Kuaile Hanyu CD Rom (depends on his maturity).
If you have a PC (not Mac, unfortunately), Kidspeak is good
I would also look into Songs for Learning Chinese. Singing is a great, fun way to Learn a foreign language.
I am curious on how much this will really help? The question I have, which may sound strange, but is China the best place to Learn how to Teach Chinese to American Students?
For Learning Chinese, I agree, going to China or Taiwan where Chinese is spoken natively is the best way to Learn Chinese. Full immersion is an excellent method for Learning a Foreign Language. A friend of mine who did this mentioned they learned as much in a month, as in a 6 month class.
But for teaching? I am not so sure. The reason is the difference in culture betweeen Chinese students and American students in Learning. The traditional way of Learning Chinese is writing characters, again and again using lots of repetition. I would instead suggest look at schools that are successful in Teaching Chinese in the US. There are a couple that turn out fluent Chinese speakers, which does not happen with all school. Finding the right Chinese school takes time. The is also a difference in Chinese Curriculum on what works in China, verses what is suited for use in a US class room.
The authors of the different Learning Chinese Curriculum's that I sell have a common frustration that the current material they were using did not work well with American Students, so they developed their own.
An article on CNN about Lang Lang. My daughter started playing at age 4, but when we moved to Silicon Valley the piano lessons/practice got disrupted a bit.
It's a challenge to keep a young child practicing. Of course it's also a challenge to keep a teenager practicing! The right Teacher is very important, as well as support from parents. My wife was so supportive of my daughter's piano practice that when my daughter's teacher mentioned we needed a Grand Piano, since it had a different feel when hitting the keys, we got one (Kawai) and I learned way to much about buying a piano :-)
Learning Chinese is very similar, it helps to have the right curriculum for learning Chinese, the parental support, and a good teacher.
For some Chinese Learners self study can be a great approach! There is great Learning Chinese software out there which makes Learning Chinese even easier!
What a Great Teacher can provide includes:
1. Correction of pronunciation 2. Having the right mouth shape for pronunciation 3. Group Activities such as Singing Chinese Songs 4. Opportunity for Group Learning 5. Positive Encouragement
There is a mention of a child learning a second language in the article through the Mother Speaking Spanish and the Father English to the child. For Learning Chinese my wife and I did the same with out daughter, and still do even though she is in High School.
There is a wide belief among the Western world that the Chinese language is one of the more difficult languages to learn. Understandably so, because the Chinese sounds and tones are considerably different from other Romanized language that Westerners are used to. If English is your primary language and you attempt to learn other Romanized languages, such as French or Spanish for example, there will inevitably be a lot of cues in spelling or sound that will enhance the memory, making the second language easier to remember.
Ms. Wendy Lin, one of our favorite textbook authors over here at ChildBook, will beg to disagree that the Chinese language is more difficult to learn. She reminds learning Chinese is just like learning any other language. Like any language, Chinese has its easy and hard parts to learn. But for today, let us look at why Chinese is also easy to learn:
Chinese is easy to learn because:
Verbs do not need to have plenty of tenses. Chinese people would say: “I buy apples last week.” And “I buy apples tomorrow.”
Nouns are not singular or plural. “One pen” and “Ten pen” are both correct.
Gender is not used in spoken Chinese, unlike in English, French and other Western languages.
One character could stand for multiple English words. For example, the animals in the Chinese zodiac are represented in Chinese with only one character, while in English, each animal in the Zodiac has its own separate name.
It is easy to learn numbers, months, dates and weekdays. To count to 99 in Chinese, you only need to learn the numbers 1 to 10. The rest are combinations of 1 to 10. For dates, you need to learn the character for month, add to the numbers 1 to 12, and you will be able to refer to all 12 months of the year. It is the same for “day” or “weekday”.
To be able to ask questions, the structure is the same for the regular sentence, you just have to add one suitable question word. For example, add “ma” to make a sentence into a question that requires the answer “yes” or “no”. There are more question words that can be inserted into a declarative sentence that will convert the sentence into a question.
Neat article, The Great Wall and beyond about traveling to China and the key words they Learned in Chinese. We started learning Chinese phrases. Three words stuck: yuan (Chinese money; 6.85 equals $1); nihou (hello), and pijo (beer)
In my around 20 years of marriage to my wife (Taiwanese), I have picked up a bit of Chinese. I understand more than I speak.
My limited vocabulary:
hello, shao lan bao (steamed dumplings), good buy, thank you, counting 1-10 on a good day, wife, ice water (you speak in perfect pronunciation to a Chinese waiter and because your white they don't expect it), is so and so home, little boy, little girl, grandfather, father, mother, grandmother, dog, small, large, yes, no, no thank you, rice, and a few others.
And with my fluent, sarcastic teenage daughter around, I usually don't use it. Easier on my ego.
My dream is to take a full immersion class in Chinese with my family not around to, um, help me :-) The good side is I have a huge amount of great material for Learning Chinese and some that take care of that bug bear of learning Chinese, pronunciation. I like the idea of Learning Chinese with Bo Po Mo to avoid the Pinyin issues. Champion Chinese does this.
Follow Jade! Learn Chinese Lessons in Video – How lessons are presented
Follow Jade! Learn Chinese DVD- Let’s Visit Chinese Kindergarten is a very well made video for pre-schoolers to learn basic Chinese words and phrases. This video is very well made, and customers really like it.
As I have been curious why customers like the Follow Jade! videos so much, I sat down and watched the first video -- Let’s Visit Chinese Kindergarten -- again. To be honest, I enjoyed watching this video.
Lessons in the first DVD cover : Greetings, colors, numbers, drinks and some song words. Kids will also be able to see Chinese pre-schoolers in the classroom.
If you are interested in how the video delivers, here is the lesson pattern of how Jade teaches kids the Follow Jade! DVD:
1) Interesting introduction with Chinese kids or multi-racial kids.
2) Jade runs through the Chinese words. She explains or connects the words/ sounds to other familiar objects. She talks in a manner that young children will understand. Her face and voice are very soothing, I think pre-schoolers are drawn to her because of this.
3) Jade will also talk to kids in the video and ask about the words just discussed using interesting objects. I like how Jade connects with the children in the video.
4) A visual activity follows. Interesting graphics are flashed, with Jade talking in the background, asking which is which. She also tests viewers by first asking if a wrong answer is correct.
5) Segments of Chinese pre-school kids in the classroom are also shown. The kindergarten students are so cute. As expected, the candidness of both active and shy kids are charming. This segment will surely interest young viewers.
6) Songs with the children are fun and words are easier to recall.
If you want your kids to learn some basic Chinese words, Follow Jade DVD is a good choice. It is also a good video for families with soon-to-be preschool kids. Kids will be able to see how kindergarten is a place for fun learning. The video also exposes kids to other same-age children in another part of the world.
All lessons in the Follow Jade! DVD are based on teacher Jade Qian’s experience in teaching children and families to speak Chinese.
Some clues... Time usage on page 19 of the study. Less time on sports (.55 hours per week vs. 18 hours), more time on reading, music (30 minutes vs. 5 minutes per day), music lessons (60 minutes per week vs 8 weeks).
So how does my daughter compare to this? She's at 120 minutes per week of music lessons :-)
A weakness seems to be limited Pinyin and the stroke order is not 100% correct, on Amazon it's rated a 4 out of 5. Sounds like version 1.1 with the bug fixes is the one to buy, once that comes out.
Kuaile Hanyu (Happy Chinese)Learning Chinese Textbooks were developed by the British Council in collaboration with National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (NOCFL) in China for students age 11-16. The textbooks are printed in color and follow a group of foreign students as they visit China. Kuaile Hanyuor Happy Chinese has that name because the goal was to have the series make learning Chinese fun and interesting for student.
The set includes 36 books, each one teaching a few words so the child does not lose attention. The accompanying CD helps with pronunciation of the Chinese words. The set teaches over 150 Chinese Words and is available in both Simplified and Traditional Characters. 22 topics include animals, family, friends, food, home, school and more! What is wonderful about My First Chinese Words is it's designed to be interactive and very hands on, dare I say, fun! This makes it an especially good tool for young children learning Chinese.
It's an entire system that includes a workbook, flash cards, teacher edition (in English, Simplified, or Tradition Characters), and a CD Rom.
On one page it has the Chinese Made Easy textbooks, workbooks, teachers edition for each level, making it very convenient to compare. For both Simplified Chinese Characters and Traditional Characters.
I did not realize it, but in the Teach Me Chinese Series it's only Pinyin and English for the Songs. I just got from the publisher the songs in Simplified Chinese Characters so I have posted them as pdf's. When you go to the product, you can download the pdf. The Teach Me Chinese Series is very popular and a great way to get exposed to Chinese through popular songs in English and Chinese.
Become more holistic in teaching Chinese (translation - include the Chinese Culture and don't only focus on Learning Characters, but learn to speak).
China's government should not wait for foreigners to come to China to Learn Chinese, but send teachers overseas to Teach Chinese. Be proactive, instead of reactive.
It does not matter what language you are going to be doing public speaking in, it pays to practice. This way you avoid embarrassment in front of your audience. My daughter was singing in a choir and the announcements were in both English and Chinese. The English was fine, unfortunately the poor girl speaking did not know some of the words in Chinese, and it showed. The same thing happened last year to the poor Senior who was the announcer in Chinese.
Practice, practice, and practice! It makes life so much easier!
Oh, thanks for asking about how my daughter did. A+! She had some mini solos and sang beautifully.
This introductory learning Chinese DVD celebrates a birthday, including preparing for the party, baking a cake & more. Stimulating visuals keep kids coming back for more. Repetition encourages learning with confidence.
You can also buy a bundle of all 6 Early Start DVD's at a great price! And they are zoneless
Students turning East from the Milwaukee Sentinal. China is providing a Chinese teacher through an exchange program from where at an elementary school each students gets a 30 minute class in Chinese everyday. Chinese teachers for over 200 locations in the US have been provided.
''Wow,'' said Zheng, principal of the Contemporary Chinese School of South Florida's Broward-Davie campus. ``We were expecting 25 children. We got 50.'' and they still have a waiting list for another 12 students after they added a second class.
Demand for Asia study overhaul from the Age in Australia. The challenge with Chinese is you have native speakers and you combine them in the same class as non-native speakers of Chinese. So the report is suggesting segregating these two groups.
My 2 Cents: Another problem with Learning Chinese is the material used to teach is pretty boring. As well as using methods that work in Taiwan and China, but just don't work in the US. That's why Wendy Lin for example developed her curriculum Practical Chinese for teaching her daughters Chinese. Many Chinese teachers because of their frustration develop their own curriculum, but as they find out about Chinese Made Easy for Kids, Chinese Made Easy, and Practical Chinese.Better Chinese is very popular in schools because it uses stories, activities, and multimedia for teaching Chinese. So for example their Teaching Chinese books come along with a set of CD's with the stories on them such as My First Chinese Words Set that has 36 books plus a CD's. All four curriculumn are available in both Traditional and Simplified Chinese Characters.
A Chinese Teacher I am working with for Chinese Made Easy Textbooks has found that a combination of Chinese Made Easy Level 1 and Chinese Made Easy for Kids Level 1 is working best for her class. She wishes the Chinese Made Easy for Kids has the for kids removed, since it is for a Middle School Chinese Class. She finds the Chinese Made Easy for Kids is better for activities and speaking that are fun (and learning Chinese should be fun), and the Chinese Made Easy is better for the class work.
I had a good conversation with a customer about finding a tutor to teach her Chinese.
Some of the ideas I gave her:
Many Chinese speakers want to improve their English, so do a trade. I would place an advertisement in the Local Chinese Newspaper, since she lives near Rowland Heights that would be Chinese Daily News. Look for the page that had the classified adv., and call up the number. No Chinese needed (trust me, I have done it when my wife is busy).
Place a free adv. in the local colleges. There are lots of Master and PhD candidates who are open to extra money, and some willing to trade teaching Chinese for Learning English.
ESL Schools - Always full of Chinese Speakers wanting to learn English.
One I did not mention was to find another Mother who wants to improve their English. Chinese Daily News is probably the best for this one.
No Child Left Behind, or NCLB may be impacting the teaching of foreign languages, such as Chinese per this article. Language Study Left Behind? from the Connecticut Business News Journal.
I have mixed feelings NCLB, I like the idea, but unfortunately the implementation has lacked some common sense. And then 9-11 came along and there went the focus on education that the Bush Administration had. Actually putting in measurements for schools is great, unfortunately states can set them as low as they want that increases their compliance on paper with NCLB.
The idea is because school districts are being forced to focus on basic English Language and Math scores due to NCLB, Foreign Languages funding and hours are being cut.
Of course if the students were at grade level, there would be no need for extra focus on this. Learning a foreign language is a great asset, but if you have not even mastered the basics it's hard to build on a foundation of sand. There are schools that have a 60% drop out rate, and then there are schools like my daughters that just had a Siemens Science winner. And they are located within 30 minutes drive of each other.
I tested carrying a few products in Cantonese after getting a few requests. I then sent out an E-Mail to everyone who had asked, and the product was so slow in selling.
My personal opinion is Cantonese with the transfer from Great Britain to China has seen an increased usage of Mandarin. Cantonese will become more of a language spoken at home. In the US there is a large historical community of Cantonese Speakers that is centered around the historic Chinatowns, some overseas Chinese such as from Vietnam also speak Cantonese. Most people in the US are interested in speaking Mandarin because it's the official language spoken in China, and has the most opportunities. My guess is 99% of the US market for Learning Chinese is Mandarin. A while ago I also carried a few Taiwanese products, and these also did not sell well. My wife liked the Taiwanese Video's I had a lot, but unfortunately they were not selling. Since per Peter F. Drucker, the purpose of a business is to make a profit (no profit it's hard to stay in business), at this time I am going to focus on Mandarin.
As I grow bigger I am sure I will add some Cantonese and Taiwanese products, but not for a while.
Changing perceptions in using the English language - Taiwan's latest President is a Harvard Graduate and speaks excellent English. It seems there is a bit of a controversy of him speaking directly to foreigners, instead of using English. My guess is there is just a bit of politics in this (Election was bitter). The Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd speaks Chinese. Many leaders will use translators even though they know English, as a way to gain additional time during negotiations. Many Russian leaders were known to do this.
And a surprising change in how China's leadership communicates with Western Reporters - seismic shift in China’s relations with West where many foreign reporters accompanied the Chinese Prime Minister to the earthquake damaged area.
Finished today adding in Chinese Made Easy and Kuaile Hanyu (Happy Chinese) Learning Chinese Systems that include software, flashcards, textbooks, cd's, simplified, traditional, and workbooks. This is in addition to Practical Chinese - Effective way to learn Chinese.
The challenge is they all don't have the same features. So as a person wanting to figure out the right system to buy, what should you do? I look at other web sites and I just see a long list of items. That's useless. So what I did was put together a table and added a lot more categories to make this somehow meaningful. Of course this got finished after the weekly newsletter went out this morning ;-) I did finish one for textbooks that did get in.
My work of art - Learning Chinese Systems Comparison. I plan on doing more of these type of comparisons to help people figure out the right products to buy. The goal is to make the shopping process as easy as possible.
Feedback is appreciated on this work of art. For example what you would like to see added to it.
It was nice that somebody ordered flashcards for Kuaile Hanyu (Happy Chinese) that had just been added this morning! Thanks, it made my day!
I hope to prevent the first question with the table I have put together comparing the three different series I carry of Learning Chinese programs that include textbooks, workbooks, cd's, flashcards, and software. Here is a link to a draft of a Learning Chinese Textbook Series Comparison Chart/Table (think of it as version 1.0).
I will also work on doing charts for the other three areas. I am not sure where to put it in the navigation, have it to the side or as the main navigation.
Earthquake readiness taught in Mandarin in Mountain View, home of Google and a great used bookstore! It makes sense to give presentations in the language of the people in your area. In Silicon Valley, there is a large Chinese population. And yes, Childbook.com does get a few orders for Learning Chinese products from this area :-)
How the Brain Learns to Read - The title in the print edition is How Alphabets Shape the Brain. The article mentions how one person may be dyslexic in English, but would not be in another language. And how different areas of the brain are used for the same activity, depending on the native language. Interesting article. The article compares English and Chinese.
It's fun to see how the Chinese characters evolved.
It shows for example a picture of an ox (with the horns), then the ancient Chinese Symbol that has a curved stroke that looks like a horn, and the current version that does not.
The book also shows you the stroke order
And explains what happens when you combine two words. Electricity and language, results in telephone.
The end of the book includes some scrolls that people put on their walls.
It's a great book and a fun activity is get a brush and paper, and have your child do some Chinese Characters for fun! This is also a great book for class room activities.
A school that is having kids learn English, Spanish, and Chinese! My daughter is also trilingual - English, Mandarin Chinese, and Taiwanese. Spanish and Chinese - great combination for additional languages beyond English. My brother-in-law is Quad lingual - he speaks Mandarin, Spanish, Taiwanese, and English.
The previous page DVD's - Learning Chinese & Culture had the links at the top, where now I added a picture/thumbnail and a few bullet points on the sub-page. This newer set up better shows the huge selection of DVD' and VCD's (Video Compact Disks). The VCD's are a great deal since I want to just sell them and go to all DVD's, some of them are as low as $4.99.
There are a lot of Learning Chinese Video's out there and the quality of them really varies. Some of them have poor production quality. The other challenge is different audiences. What may be great for a family that does not speak Chinese, would be rated poorly by a Family that speaks Chinese at home (trust me, I have seen the reviews that prove this).
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Award Winning Children Learning Chinese DVD from Jade Qian, 30 minutes long. Jade incorporates basic Chinese words into everyday conversation about topics familiar to children using her special bilingual and activity based method. For ages 2-6.
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This introductory learning Chinese DVD series includes Volume 1: Colors and Animals, Volume 2: Numbers and Fruits, Volume 3: A Wonderful Day, Volume 4: My Healthy Body. Stimulating visuals keep kids coming back for more. Repetition encourages learning!
500 US public schools offer Mandarin with 3000 students taking the AP test for Chinese.
40 million people worldwide are learning Mandarin
100,000 foreigners went to China to study Mandarin in 2006. US was third in nations sending people to Learn Mandarin Chinese in China.
Recent Gallup surveys in 13 Asian countries showed some 40 percent expect China to replace the U.S. as the leading superpower within the next 50 years.
My understanding is if you can read one, you can read the other. I would compare it from driving a stick shift to an automatic. If you can read simplified you can read traditional, which is why most of the Chinese newspapers in the US are in Traditional Characters. Traditional characters just has a few more strokes. If you read Traditional characters, going the other way is a bit harder since strokes are missing, but still doable. And people who say they can't read the other type of characters are more into politics.
Learning Simplified Characters is easier than traditional because there are less strokes. The counter argument is because traditional is more systematic, it's actually easier. The best comment I have read was when simplified characters were being created, they did not simplify it enough. They both require a huge amount of memorization. In English, we only need to deal with 27 sounds and rules that are not systematic (I taught ESL), but that's because English is a polygot language that has borrowed grammar and words from lots of languages.
Areas I agree with:
On the issue of writing, that is much more challenging. I like the argument that the use of computers make this a non-issue.
Traditional Characters are prettier. It's amazing when you have someone with good handwriting write traditional characters, they are a work of art!
Mysteries - Why is it my Father in Laws Chinese writing is so much better than my wifes? Why is it my Grandmother's Enlglish handwriting is so much better than mine? Do people's handwriting improve as they get older? Or are schools just slacking off. My wife's answer is I am just lazy :-)
This is a wonderful book just to read on Chinese Characters! It's one of my favorite books at ChildBook. A great activity is buy the book, get some ink and brushes, and just have fun writing characters.
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Explains how Chinese writing developed and demonstrates how to write 75 Chinese Characters, using detailed instructions and examples, hardcover, English.
Creative cartoons illustrate the origins to today's ideographs (characters). Each page elaborates on the origin, development of one character from a pictograph with an example of usage.
Creative cartoons illustrate the origins to today's ideographs (characters). Each page elaborates on the origin, development of one character from a pictograph with an example of usage.
Creative cartoons illustrate the origins to today's ideographs (characters). Each page elaborates on the origin, development of one character from a pictograph with an example of usage.
